


Gone Quiet

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: 5 Things, M/M, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, West Wing Title Project, except it's only 3 things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-08
Updated: 2013-01-08
Packaged: 2017-11-24 04:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/630474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three times Steve and Bucky comforted/quieted each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gone Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> Written for sniffleheim, caughtinanocean, and an anonymouse on Tumblr. Also, [the West Wing title project](http://musesfool.livejournal.com/1487052.html).

1\. 

Bucky's not sure at first what it is that wakes him, and he lies in the darkness of the tent, hand on his gun and every nerve strung taut. He closes his eyes and forces himself to _listen_.

Steve is snuffling in his bedroll, and suddenly Bucky's filled with a different, more familiar fear. He'd thought the serum had taken care of Steve's asthma and tendency towards pneumonia, but Steve sounds like he can't breathe, and Bucky's never been able to sleep through that.

He rolls over and puts a hand on Steve's back, ignoring how his shoulders are twice as broad as they used to be and focusing on the way Steve shakes under the touch.

"Hey," he whispers, "you okay?" One of Steve's shoulders rises in a half-shrug and he shakes his head. Bucky presses closer, fits his body against the curve of Steve's spine, and drapes his arm over Steve's to place his hand on Steve's chest. "Breathe in, nice and slow," he murmurs, nosing at the short hair behind Steve's ear. He still smells the same underneath the dirt and the smoke and sweat, and Bucky finds that comforting. 

Steve shudders against him, and mutters, "'M fine," with a trace of his old mule-headed petulance, but mostly he sounds broken, and that's when Bucky realizes he's not having an asthma attack. He's _crying_.

They've all had nights like this--Bucky figures any guy who says he hasn't is a liar--but it's worse now because it's _Steve_. He'd never wanted Steve to have to see the kinds of things they see every day, and today was worse than usual, humping through the ashes of a bombed out village in HYDRA's wake.

"Hey," he whispers, "there was nothing we could have done."

"If we'd--If _I'd_ been faster," Steve says.

Bucky presses his face to Steve's shoulder and breathes him in for a brief moment, gathering his strength. "No matter what Stark and his scientists tell you, you're still only human, Steve. You can't save everybody."

Steve rolls over and Bucky shifts away to give him room. His face is tear-streaked and pale in the darkness, his lashes wet and clumped together. "You don't know that."

"Yeah," Bucky says sadly, "unfortunately, I do." He wraps his hand around the nape of Steve's neck and presses their foreheads together. "You do the best you can, Steve. You always have. And it will have to be enough."

Steve sucks in another hitching breath and buries his face in the crook of Bucky's neck. Bucky holds him until the shaking stops. They fall asleep like that, eventually, and don't talk about it in the morning.

*

2\. 

"Cap," Natasha's voice is sharp in Steve's ear, "we need you in the underground lab."

Cold fear shoots through him--there's nothing that Natasha and Bucky shouldn't be able to handle anywhere, let alone a bunch of chemists in a basement lab--and he vaults over the railing instead of taking the stairs.

Natasha is standing amid an array of unconscious AIM scientists. She has a bruise rising on her left cheek, but looks okay otherwise. 

Bucky is pummeling the only one of the scientists still clinging to consciousness, blood and teeth scattered around the man's head, his face looking like so much ground meat under Bucky's fists.

"Bucky, hey, hey, Bucky," Steve says, putting himself in Bucky's line of sight.

Bucky looks up, his face a horrible blank for a moment before his gaze catches on Steve's shield and then his face. "Steve?" His voice is hoarse and ragged, like he's been running. 

"Yeah, Buck. It's me. You okay?"

Bucky looks at the man beneath him, the expression on his face going from confused to ashamed. "I--His face was familiar. I think he was one of the scientists who used to program me." 

Steve glances at Natasha, who nods, her face impassive. "Okay. Why don't we let Natasha tie him up, and we can go see about your hands?"

Bucky stands, the grace of his movements at odds with the unhappiness on his face. "You okay, Nat?"

"I'm fine, James. I'll finish this up and join you shortly." 

Steve mouths, "Thanks," at her over his shoulder as he leads Bucky up the stairs. The others are already outside, so Steve stops for a moment, turns and pulls Bucky into his arms. "It's okay," he murmurs into Bucky's sweaty hair. "I've got you." 

Bucky shakes against him for a moment, his chest heaving against Steve's before he collects himself and raises his face. Steve cups his cheek gently, thumbs his lower lip before leaning into press a quick kiss to his mouth. "Okay?"

"Yeah," Bucky says, giving him a weak smile. "I will be."

*

3\. 

In the interest of not scaring the locals, Steve shoves him into an unused confessional and presses up against him while they wait for Mil Máscaras to put in an appearance.

Bucky usually has no problem finding that quiet, patient place inside that makes such him a deadly sniper, but he's pretty sure that even when he was the Winter Soldier, he'd have been distracted by the hard, heavy press of Steve's body against his, the humid heat of Steve's breath against his neck. Bucky can't remember the last time he went to confession, but the things Steve's making him think--making him _want_ \--right now would definitely have gotten him at least twenty Hail Marys from Father McGill back in the day.

He shifts, trying to focus on something that isn't Steve's thigh pressing up between his legs, and hears a muffled thump that might have been Steve's shield or might have been someone looking to confess.

They both freeze, and the sound isn't repeated, so Bucky lets himself relax slightly, right up until Steve murmurs in his ear, "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" he answers reflexively, and then wants to kick himself.

"Banana."

"Seriously?" Bucky whispers vehemently.

"Knock knock," Steve repeats.

"Who's there?"

"Banana."

" _Steve_." Bucky tries to put every ounce of annoyance he's feeling right now into that one word.

"Knock knock," Steve says.

"You're incorrigible. I don't know why I'm the one with the bad reputation." Steve's silence is patient and inexorable. Bucky sighs. "Who's there?"

"Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" He can hear the smile in Steve's voice and he can't help it, he starts giggling. Not even laughing in a manly way, no, this is some seriously high-pitched giggling that would totally give their presence away if there were anyone else in the church.

"Bucky," Steve says in his Captain America voice, but Bucky can hear the suppressed laughter in it, "Bucky, you have to be quiet now."

"Screw you," Bucky replies, breathless and still laughing, but mindful of where they are even now. "Your jokes suck."

"Good thing you have the sense of humor of a six-year-old."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

"Make me."

Steve, never one to miss an opportunity, cups his chin and kisses him, hot and wet and sweet.

Mil Máscaras never shows, or maybe he was scared away by the sound of giggling in the confessional, but Bucky doesn't care. It's the best mission he's been on in weeks.


End file.
